


A Sketchy View of Things

by Hopestill



Category: Eternal Arcadia | Skies of Arcadia
Genre: Fluff, Gen, artist!Aika drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:21:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28817721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hopestill/pseuds/Hopestill
Summary: What starts out as innocuous hobbies can give one a new perspective on life. In Aika's case, with her drawings, she comes to this realization at one of the most critical moments in her life.
Kudos: 1





	A Sketchy View of Things

**Author's Note:**

> Hi hello good afternoon! This is my 2nd piece for Eternal Skies, the Skies of Arcadia 20th anniversary fanzine! I hope you enjoy it - it's a short little drabble about Aika and her imagination.

As a child, Aika lived in the land of her imagination just as much as she did on the deck of an airship. Each cloud towering in the sky hid in it gold, silver, gems of unimaginable worth - or the alternative, monsters of all shapes, sizes, and colors, with multiple eyes or limbs or frills! The crew knew that if Aika were to corner them in some dusty corner of the ship, they would get their ears talked off by the excitable girl. 

She was rambling to an exhausted deck swabber one day (“And just think, if there’s moonstones that can unlock lands with hidden treasure, who  _ knows _ what we’re missing out on?”) when she felt a firm hand on her shoulder. Immediately, she knew what she was in for. “Waugh!! C-Captain Dyne, I know I’m supposed to clean the cannons, I’ll get right to it-”

“Aika. You’re distracting the crew.”

Her gaze turned to the floor, where the mop was already sliding over the hardwood, everyone already back to their work. The faintest of nods indicated she heard - understood - what the captain was saying, and yet she didn’t want to agree. “Here, this might help. Just make sure it doesn’t interfere with your duties.” The captain knelt down in front of her and produced a small journal, bound with a colorful orange and blue pattern that swirled together like the first streaks of twilight over the horizon. It even had a pocket for a pen! She held the journal in her hands, eyes wide, all negativity cast aside in favor of opportunity. “You can write all of your ideas down here.”

“Whoa… This is great!! Thanks, Capt’n!” She scampered off, immediately running back to the selfsame crewman, then stopped in her tracks, rubbed the back of her head, and bolted to the lower deck instead. Dyne couldn’t help but chuckle to himself before turning his attention back to his duties.

~*~

When words didn’t come to her, she turned to pictures. They started small; stick-figures of her family on a white background, then with added accessories (often with arrows accompanying them, descriptions tied to each item). Backgrounds took shape a few years after, of billowing clouds in the deep sky and of the logs in Vyse’s family’s cabin. With the detail came a growth in imagination; the gold coins weren’t  _ just _ gold coins, they were the long lost treasure of a civilization lost to the depths below, a remnant of a once powerful people who all had their own stories to tell! 

Fina’s crash landing into her life spurred on more drawings. Cupils dotted the borders of the pages as Aika drew fantastical descriptions of strange lands she heard tale of in rumors on Sailor’s Island. These were often followed up with drawings of what these lands  _ actually _ looked like; every chance she could catch her breath (and stop gawking at the discoveries!), she drew. With the discovery of new lands came new materials to draw with: berry extracts as ink from Ixa’Taka that brought a rainbow of colors she could only dream of expressing through drawings; glittering sand from Nasrad that made each line shimmer in the sunlight; squid ink from Yafutoma, darker than even the depths of Deep Sky (which proved useful, detailing what lay at the bottom of the sky later on!) 

And through all these drawings, she learned more about the world. She asked the residents of each town if her details were correct, and laughed along with them as she showed off what she thought the town would look like. The world seemed so vast, yet so small and connected. It only made her more determined to not let Valua ruin what the world has to offer. 

~*~

To say Aika was shaken would be the understatement of the century. Crescent Isle was a safe haven, and knowing that it had all been for naught this whole time took enough wind from her sails that she couldn’t sleep - and before the fight with Galcian, no less. Pacing about the island did nothing to help, and even a heart-to-heart with her companions only alleviated her worries. As sleep evaded her, she turned instead to her room, messy as ever. “Tidying up always makes me sleepy...” She mused, grabbing a feather duster long neglected in the room. 

A dusty book under her bed, with what looked like orange and blue swirls underneath the layer of dust, piqued her interest. She blew the dust off it, coughing into the larger than expected cloud of dust, and opened the book. “‘Aika’s Jornal’… Heh, my spelling has definitely improved.” She murmured, turning the pages.

Familiar pen strokes and illustrations called back to memories long forgotten. She laughed at a drawing of an arcwhale (“They never look that cute!”) and smiled at a 10 year old’s rendition of holiday dinner. Her first drawing of Cupil was an oily looking blob with a question mark next to it. A drawing of a Kabal skewer from Maramba made her mouth water, and she couldn’t help but chuckle at what she  _ thought _ an Ixa’Takan feast would look like versus her follow-up drawing of what it actually was. She thumbed through the pages, pausing at the final blank page.

With renewed determination, she rummaged through her drawer for her materials: the last of her berry extracts, a little bit of squid ink, and charcoal from Esperanza would do the trick! She had gotten much better at drawing people over the adventure, and now was the perfect time to commemorate the history they were going to make. She bowed her head over her desk and began drawing - for what only seemed like 30 minutes or so.

The first stretches of light were peeking through her window, crossing over her drawing. She blinked twice. “Oh shoot!”  _ Where did the time go?! _ Already, Crescent Isle was bustling with final preparations. She stretched and let out a big yawn before racing out the door. On the desk was a picture of all of her companions: Vyse, Fina, Drachma, Gilder, and Enrique, with her on the side giving a big thumbs up. Behind them waved their banner, detailed in vibrant colors. 

She was going to help beat back the Valuan Empire for them. For the people she drew with. For Dyne. For the world, the true world, she documented. 


End file.
